Shale Bait

Oil shale is a fossil fuel, like coal, petroleum, and natural gas.Photograph by Emory Kristof

Coal is still the real rock star of the sedimentary set, with both Google search results (164 million to a little over 20 million) and New York Times mentions (5,460 to 1,220) dwarfing those of shale over the past year.

Fishy, fishy, in a rock. You’re in shale and not in chalk.Photo by James L. Amos

The oil extracted and processed from oil shale is imaginatively called shale oil. Just for shales and giggles, it can also be called oil-shale oil. Although the U.S. doesn’t use shale oil, other countries (like China, Brazil, and Estonia) rely on it for energy.

Oil-bearing shales, however, are the real rock stars of the moment. Oil-bearing shales are rock (shale) formations with petroleum (oil) or natural gas trapped between layers. The shale is not the fossil fuel in this case. The dense, hard rock has simply created a reservoir deep underground. These reservoirs are often called shale plays.

The Bakken shale is a shale play in western North Dakota, eastern Montana, and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is rich in both natural gas and petroleum. Thanks to improved drilling technologies, North Dakota is truly “Bakken business”, with one of the most vibrant economies in the nation, and no signs of slowing down.

The Barnett shale is a shale play in northern Texas. Some analysts say it’s the largest natural-gas shale play in the United States, and has created a boom to match the oil boom on Texas’ southern shore.

So, that’s the real shale.

I’ll leave you with one final image I first saw as part of the Bakken cover story in this month’s Harpers. The Daily Mail calls it a “mystery city,” and it’s a haunting, telling complement to the “lights at night” images we’re familiar with.

Bakken business.Photo courtesy the National Geophysical Data Center

The bright lights are the big cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The glowing regions in northwest are natural gas flares produced by oil wells in the red-hot Bakken.

Actually, do yourself a favor and watch the dazzling time-lapse video stitched together from related footage. You’ll fall in love with the Earth, technology, and science all over again.

3 responses to “Shale Bait”

Thanks for using the term oil-bearing shale for the Bakken. I have been trying get that name used to differentiate it from oil shale. Just a small correction. Oil shale is not used for heating anywhere I know of. Estonia and China use it both to generate electricity and to extract oil from it. Brazil only mines it to produce oil, sulfur, and natural gas.